Dementia Nurse Salary 2026/27

Last updated: 31 October 2026 · Figures verified against the NHS Employers 2026/27 pay circular.

By the NHS Bands Pay editorial team

Dementia nurse pay 2026/27: the Band 5 to Band 7 scales

England awarded Agenda for Change staff 3.3% from 1 April 2026, and the award was paid on time in April salaries. The scales below are the 2026/27 England scales for a full-time 37.5-hour week. Hourly rates are annual pay divided by 52.2 weeks and then by 37.5 hours, rounded to the nearest penny, and enhancement and overtime rates on this page are calculated from that rounded hourly rate. Monthly pay is annual pay divided by 12. Weekly pay is annual pay divided by 52.2. For the wider picture at each band, including the roles that share these scales, see the Band 5 salary guide, the Band 6 salary guide and the Band 7 salary guide.

The table carries all nine steps because dementia services use all three bands in one team. A ward that runs a dementia bay will have Band 5 nurses doing the bedside work, a Band 6 specialist nurse running assessments and training, and a Band 7 lead who owns the service. Reading only the Band 7 top figure, £56,515, would mislead a newly qualified nurse, and reading only the Band 5 entry figure, £32,073, would understate what a specialist earns. The step matters as much as the band: a Band 6 nurse at the top, on £48,117, earns only £1,270 a year less than a Band 7 nurse at entry, on £49,387, and a Band 7 nurse who has just moved up can earn less in cash terms than a long-serving Band 6 colleague once unsocial hours are counted. That overlap is normal in Agenda for Change, and it is the reason adverts should be checked for the exact step, not just the band.

What a dementia nurse actually does

A trust-based dementia nurse works where dementia meets the rest of the hospital or community service. On an acute ward, the job is spotting delirium against a background of dementia, keeping a patient safe when they are frightened and disorientated, and stopping a short admission from turning into a long one. In the community, the job is visiting people at home, reviewing medicines with the GP and pharmacist, and helping families plan before a crisis forces an admission. In a memory service, the job is assessment, diagnosis support and follow-up, with clinics that run for months after the first appointment. The thread through all three settings is the same: the nurse is the person who knows the patient as a person, not as a diagnosis code, and who can tell a new junior doctor in two minutes what calms this patient, what frightens them, and what a good day looks like for them.

That personal knowledge is also why the role splits from general nursing in a way that shows up in the banding. A Band 5 nurse on a dementia ward learns the routines, the de-escalation techniques and the paperwork. A Band 6 specialist nurse carries a caseload of the most complex patients, teaches ward teams, and is the person other professionals call when a discharge is stuck. A Band 7 lead designs the service, writes the training, audits practice across wards, and argues the case for staffing with the trust board. The pay steps track that widening responsibility, not extra years on the same ward. A nurse who stays at Band 5 for a decade will reach £39,043 and stop; a nurse who takes on the specialist caseload moves to Band 6 and a new scale.

One distinction must be stated plainly, because adverts blur it. Admiral Nurses are specialist dementia nurses employed by Dementia UK, a charity, working in partnership with host organisations. Trust-based dementia nurses are employed directly by NHS trusts on Agenda for Change terms. The clinical work overlaps, and a family may never know which employer their nurse works for, but the contract does not overlap. This page quotes Agenda for Change figures only for trust-based roles. It quotes no pay figure for Admiral Nurses, because their pay is set by Dementia UK and sits outside the verified Agenda for Change data used here. If an advert says Admiral Nurse, check the employer line before comparing its salary with any figure on this page.

Band 5 versus Band 6 versus Band 7: what actually changes

Band 5 is the entry point for a nurse who works with people living with dementia every day, whether as a staff nurse on an older-adult ward, a community nurse with a dementia caseload, or a dementia link nurse who champions good practice on a general ward. The work is direct care, observation and documentation, with a senior nurse nearby. Band 6 changes the centre of gravity. The specialist nurse holds the complex caseload, leads assessments, trains other staff, and becomes the point of contact for families whose relative has the most challenging needs. Band 7 changes it again. The lead nurse owns a service across wards or across a community patch, manages other dementia nurses, sets standards, and reports on outcomes. The difference between Band 6 and Band 7 is therefore less about clinical skill with one patient and more about scope: one caseload versus a whole service.

That scope difference explains the pay gaps in the table. Moving from the top of Band 5, £39,043, to the entry of Band 6, £39,959, adds only £916 a year, because the move is about taking on a specialist caseload rather than a leap in seniority. Moving from the top of Band 6, £48,117, to the entry of Band 7, £49,387, adds £1,270 a year for a similar reason. The larger jumps sit inside each band: Band 6 rises £8,158 from entry to top, and Band 7 rises £7,128 from entry to top, as annual progression moves a nurse through the steps. A nurse planning a move should therefore weigh the step they will enter on, not just the band label, and should ask at interview which step the post is advertised at. The clinical nurse specialist salary guide sets out the same ladder for the wider specialist nurse family, and the mental health nurse salary guide covers the older-adult mental health wards where many dementia nurses start.

Unsocial hours: ward rotas pay more than community caseloads

Agenda for Change Section 2 pays Bands 4 to 9 time plus 30% for Saturday and weekday night hours, defined as 8pm to 6am, and time plus 60% for Sunday and public-holiday hours. Dementia care is unusual in how much that rule varies by setting. A nurse on a 24-hour dementia ward earns the enhancement on nights, Saturdays and Sundays as a matter of routine. A nurse in a community dementia team, working weekdays with occasional late visits, earns it rarely. Two nurses at the same band and step can therefore take home noticeably different monthly pay, and the difference is the rota, not the basic scale. The unsocial hours and overtime guide explains the Section 2 rules in full.

Worked through, a Band 6 nurse at entry on £20.41 an hour earns £26.53 for a Saturday or night hour and £32.66 for a Sunday hour. A Band 7 nurse at the top on £28.87 earns £37.53 and £46.19 for the same hours. A single 7.5-hour Sunday shift at the top of Band 7 is therefore worth £346.43 before tax, against £216.53 at plain time, a difference of £129.90 for that one shift. Ward nurses should check the rota pattern before accepting a post, because a ward that runs three nights in four pays very differently from a ward that runs one night in four, even at the same band. Community nurses, by contrast, should ask about evening and weekend visiting, because a community service that stretches into Saturday clinics carries enhancement money that a Monday to Friday service does not.

Overtime: time and a half, double on bank holidays

Overtime in Agenda for Change means hours above 37.5 in a week for full-time staff. Bands 1 to 7 earn time and a half for overtime and double time on bank and public holidays. Part-time staff earn plain time, plus any unsocial enhancement that applies, for hours above their contracted hours up to 37.5, and overtime rates only above 37.5. Overtime and unsocial-hours enhancement cannot both be claimed for the same hours, so a nurse picks the better treatment for those hours or takes time off in lieu instead of pay. For a Band 6 nurse at the top, overtime is £36.87 an hour and bank-holiday overtime is £49.16 an hour. For a Band 7 nurse at entry, overtime is £37.85 an hour and bank-holiday overtime is £50.46 an hour. For a Band 7 nurse at the top, overtime is £43.31 an hour and bank-holiday overtime is £57.74 an hour. Those rates are calculated from the rounded plain hourly rates in the first table, which is how payroll applies them.

Dementia services generate overtime in bursts rather than steadily. A ward with a patient who needs one-to-one observation, a community team covering sickness during a heatwave, or a memory service clearing a waiting list will all ask for extra shifts, then go quiet. Bank work on dementia wards is plentiful for the same reason, since the work cannot be left undone when a shift is short. A nurse comparing two posts should ask how often extra shifts are actually offered, because a post that rarely offers overtime pays only its basic plus rota enhancement, while a post on a short-staffed ward can add a meaningful sum each month. Neither figure is in the basic scale, so neither appears in a job advert headline.

On-call and liaison work: the figure this page does not quote

Some dementia services run an out-of-hours liaison or advice line, and some ask specialists to be contactable for complex cases outside clinic hours. There is no national on-call rate for dementia nurses to quote, and this page does not invent one. Trusts set availability payments and call-out payments locally, and some fold on-call into a rota allowance instead. The frequency matters as much as the rate: a liaison service that phones twice a month pays very differently from one that phones twice a night, even on the same availability payment. Ask for the local terms in writing before accepting a post, along with the expected call-out frequency, how travel time for call-outs is treated, and whether weekend liaison counts as unsocial hours or as on-call. The on-call allowance guide covers the closest parallel rules for nursing on-call in general.

London weighting: what HCAS adds

High Cost Area Supplement in 2026/27 is 20% of basic pay in inner London, subject to a minimum of £5,794 and a maximum of £8,746, 15% in outer London, subject to a minimum of £4,870 and a maximum of £6,137, and 5% in the fringe zone, subject to a minimum of £1,346 and a maximum of £2,270. The caps bite early for dementia nurses, because Band 6 and Band 7 basics are high enough for 20% to pass £8,746 part-way up the scales. A Band 6 nurse at entry in inner London earns £47,950.80 in total, which is £39,959 plus £7,991.80. A Band 6 nurse at the top in inner London earns £56,863, which is £48,117 plus the capped £8,746, not the uncapped £9,623.40. A Band 7 nurse at entry in inner London earns £58,133, which is £49,387 plus the capped £8,746. A Band 7 nurse at the top in inner London earns £65,261, which is £56,515 plus the capped £8,746. In outer London, a Band 6 nurse at entry earns £45,952.85, which is £39,959 plus £5,993.85, and a Band 7 nurse at the top earns £62,652, which is £56,515 plus the capped £6,137. In the fringe zone, a Band 6 nurse at entry earns £41,956.95, which is £39,959 plus £1,997.95. The full zone rules are in the London weighting guide.

The cap has a practical consequence for anyone choosing between two London posts. Once the cap is reached, extra basic pay from moving up a step adds nothing to HCAS, so the total pay gap between two capped posts is exactly the basic pay gap, no more. A Band 7 nurse at the top in inner London and a Band 7 nurse at the intermediate step in inner London differ by £4,583 in basic pay, £56,515 against £51,932, and by the same £4,583 in total pay, because both receive the same £8,746 supplement. Outside London, the same step move also adds nothing extra, since there is no supplement at all. London weighting therefore helps most at the lower steps, where the percentage still has room to grow, and helps least, in proportional terms, at the top of Band 7.

Pension: what comes off the payslip

NHS pension contributions in England and Wales are tiered by pensionable pay. The 2026/27 member tiers used here are provisional, calculated from the published 2025/26 tiers, and have not yet been formally published. On those provisional tiers, a Band 5 dementia link nurse pays 8.3% at entry and the intermediate step, £221.84 and £239.26 a month, and 9.8% at the top, £318.85 a month. A Band 6 dementia nurse pays 9.8% at every step, from £326.33 a month at entry to £392.96 a month at the top. A Band 7 dementia nurse pays 9.8% at entry and the intermediate step, £403.33 and £424.11 a month, and 10.7% at the top, £503.93 a month. The employer contributes 23.7% on top of pensionable pay, which is £11,403.73 a year at the top of Band 6 and £13,394.06 a year at the top of Band 7. That employer sum does not appear on the payslip, but it is part of the value of the job, and it is one reason NHS pension membership is worth keeping even when the monthly deduction feels large. The pension contributions guide explains the tiers and the provisional status in full.

The tier boundary inside Band 7 catches people out. A nurse who moves from the intermediate step, £51,932, to the top, £56,515, crosses from the 9.8% tier into the 10.7% tier, so the monthly deduction jumps from £424.11 to £503.93, a rise of £79.82 a month, while gross monthly pay rises by £381.91. Net pay still rises, but by less than the gross rise suggests, and a nurse who budgets on the gross figure will be surprised. The same boundary logic applies at the top of Band 5, where the move from £34,592 at 8.3% to £39,043 at 9.8% lifts the monthly deduction from £239.26 to £318.85. Checking the tier before accepting a promotion is a five-minute job that prevents a nasty first payslip.

Part-time work, annual leave, mileage and uniform relief

Part-time pay in Agenda for Change is pro rata to the whole-time equivalent fraction. A Band 6 dementia nurse at entry on a 0.8 whole-time equivalent contract earns £31,967.20 a year, a Band 7 dementia nurse at entry on a 0.8 contract earns £39,509.60 a year, and a Band 7 dementia nurse at the top on a 0.6 contract earns £33,909 a year. Unsocial-hours percentages and HCAS apply to the pro rata basic in the same way as to a full-time basic, and pension contributions are calculated on the actual pensionable pay, not the whole-time equivalent figure. Community dementia posts split well into part-time caseloads, because a caseload can be divided, while ward posts need the rota share agreed in advance, since a part-time nurse who takes a full share of nights earns a larger enhancement proportion than a part-time nurse on days only. The part-time pay guide works through the pro rata maths.

Annual leave in England under Agenda for Change Section 13 is 27 days plus 8 bank holidays for up to 4 years of service, 29 days plus 8 bank holidays from 5 years, and 33 days plus 8 bank holidays from 10 years, pro rata for part-time staff. Community dementia nurses who drive between home visits can claim business mileage under Section 17: 59p a mile for car journeys up to 4,500 miles in the year, then 36p a mile above that threshold, for journeys on or after 1 July 2026. A community nurse who drives 5,000 business miles in the year therefore claims £2,835, which is 4,500 miles at 59p, £2,655, plus 500 miles at 36p, £180. Mileage is an expense reimbursement, not pay, and it is taxed differently, so it should never be added to salary when comparing posts. The mileage rates guide and the annual leave guide carry the full rules. Uniformed nurses can also claim HMRC flat-rate expenses of £125 for laundry, which gives tax relief of £25 a year at the basic rate and £50 a year at the higher rate, claimed without receipts where the employer provides no laundry service or allowance. The uniform tax rebate guide explains the claim.

Dementia nurse versus mental health nurse: the same scales, a different caseload

Pay differs between a dementia nurse and a general mental health nurse mainly through setting and caseload, not through basic pay. Both earn the same basic for the same band and step, and both earn the same HCAS for the same zone. The dementia nurse on a 24-hour ward may earn unsocial-hours money on almost every night shift, while a community mental health nurse on a daytime caseload earns little enhancement but claims mileage. The dementia nurse also carries a caseload that stays with them for years, as dementia is a long-term condition, while an acute mental health nurse may see patients for days or weeks. A nurse choosing between the two should weigh the work honestly: dementia nursing offers long relationships with patients and families, slow and visible decline, and the satisfaction of keeping someone at home for months longer than they would otherwise manage. It also carries grief, repeated bereavement, and the emotional weight of watching a person fade. The pay is fair for the band. The caseload length, the rota, and the split between ward, community and clinic work are what should decide the choice between two posts at the same band.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Scotland awarded 3.75% from 1 April 2026 and moved to a 36-hour week from April 2026, which changes both the hourly maths and the overtime threshold, since overtime in Scotland starts above 36 hours rather than 37.5. Scotland Band 5 pays £34,494 to £42,977, which is £18.36 to £22.87 an hour on the 36-hour week, higher than England Band 5 in both annual and hourly terms. Wales awarded 3.3%, implemented 1 April 2026 and paid on time, and Wales Band 5 pays £32,557 at entry, £35,114 at the intermediate step and £39,631 at the top, which is £16.63, £17.94 and £20.25 an hour on the 37.5-hour week. Northern Ireland has a 3.3% recommendation for 2026/27 that has not been implemented, so no 2026/27 Northern Ireland figure is quoted here, and staff in Northern Ireland should not budget on the recommended figure until it is confirmed. Scotland and Wales Band 6 and Band 7 step figures are not in the verified data file used for this page, so they are not quoted, and a nurse comparing a Scottish or Welsh Band 6 or Band 7 post with an English one should ask the trust for the local scale in writing. The Scotland pay guide, the Wales pay guide and the Northern Ireland pay guide carry the national pictures, and the Agenda for Change guide explains how the four nations diverged.

The honest picture: what dementia nurse pay does and does not do

Dementia nurse pay is solid, transparent and nationally set, which is its strength. A nurse can look up the band scale, add the unsocial-hours percentage for the rota, add HCAS for London, and know the gross figure within a few pounds. There are no hidden bonuses and no negotiation over the basic: the scale is the scale. The ceiling is the weakness. Band 6 tops out at £48,117, and a nurse who wants more must move to Band 7, which means a service to lead, not simply more years in the same job. Community posts add mileage but no enhancement, ward posts add enhancement but carry nights, and neither adds a dementia-specific supplement, because Agenda for Change has no dementia premium. The job itself is the reason to take it: the chance to keep a person at home, to help a family through the hardest years of their lives, and to be the professional who still knows the patient when the patient no longer knows themselves. The pay is fair for the band. The rota, the caseload, and the split between ward, community and clinic work are what should decide the choice between two dementia posts at the same band.

Frequently asked questions

What band is a dementia nurse?

Trust-based dementia specialist nurses sit at Band 6 and dementia leads sit at Band 7 in England in 2026/27. Band 6 pays £39,959 at entry, £42,170 at the intermediate step and £48,117 at the top, and Band 7 pays £49,387 at entry, £51,932 at the intermediate step and £56,515 at the top. Ward-based dementia link nurses and dementia champions often sit at Band 5, which pays £32,073 at entry, £34,592 at the intermediate step and £39,043 at the top. The band follows the post, not the job title, so a single trust can employ a Band 5 link nurse, a Band 6 specialist and a Band 7 lead in the same dementia service, with the lead carrying service design, training and the most complex cases.

How much does a dementia nurse earn a month?

In England in 2026/27, a Band 6 dementia nurse earns £3,329.92 a month at entry, £3,514.17 at the intermediate step and £4,009.75 at the top, before tax, National Insurance and pension deductions. A Band 7 dementia nurse earns £4,115.58 a month at entry, £4,327.67 at the intermediate step and £4,709.58 at the top. A Band 5 dementia link nurse earns £2,672.75 a month at entry, £2,882.67 at the intermediate step and £3,253.58 at the top. Those are gross figures for a full-time 37.5-hour week, before any unsocial-hours enhancement, on-call payment or London weighting.

Do dementia nurses get unsocial-hours pay?

Yes, when the hours are worked. Agenda for Change Section 2 pays Bands 4 to 9 time plus 30% for Saturday and weekday night hours (8pm to 6am) and time plus 60% for Sunday and public-holiday hours. A Band 6 dementia nurse at entry earns £26.53 an hour on a Saturday or at night and £32.66 on a Sunday or bank holiday, against £20.41 plain time. At the top of Band 7, £28.87 an hour becomes £37.53 and £46.19. The share of unsocial hours depends on the setting: dementia ward nurses on a 24-hour rota earn these enhancements for a large share of their hours, while community dementia nurses on a daytime caseload earn far fewer.

What is the difference between a dementia nurse and an Admiral Nurse?

An Admiral Nurse is a specialist dementia nurse employed by the charity Dementia UK, working in partnership with host organisations, while a trust-based dementia nurse is employed directly by an NHS trust on Agenda for Change terms. That employment difference is why this page quotes Agenda for Change figures only for trust-based roles and quotes no pay figure for Admiral Nurses: their pay sits outside Agenda for Change and is set by Dementia UK. The clinical work overlaps heavily, since both support people living with dementia and their families through complex needs, but the employer, the contract and the pay scale are different, so a job advert must be read for which employer is actually hiring.

Do dementia nurses get London weighting?

Yes, in London. High Cost Area Supplement in 2026/27 is 20% of basic pay in inner London (minimum £5,794, maximum £8,746), 15% in outer London (minimum £4,870, maximum £6,137) and 5% in the fringe zone (minimum £1,346, maximum £2,270). A Band 6 dementia nurse at entry in inner London earns £47,950.80 in total, and a Band 7 dementia nurse at the top in inner London earns £65,261, because the 20% supplement is capped at £8,746. A Band 7 nurse at the top in outer London earns £62,652 in total.

What pension contribution does a dementia nurse pay?

Under the provisional 2026/27 England and Wales tiers, Band 6 dementia nurses pay 9.8% of pensionable pay at every step, from £326.33 a month at entry to £392.96 a month at the top. Band 7 dementia nurses pay 9.8% at entry and the intermediate step, £403.33 and £424.11 a month, and 10.7% at the top, £503.93 a month. Band 5 dementia link nurses pay 8.3% at entry and the intermediate step, £221.84 and £239.26 a month, and 9.8% at the top, £318.85 a month. The employer contributes 23.7% on top, which is £13,394.06 a year at the top of Band 7. The 2026/27 member tiers are provisional, calculated from the published 2025/26 tiers, and have not yet been formally published.

Can a dementia nurse work part-time?

Yes. Part-time pay in Agenda for Change is pro rata to the whole-time equivalent fraction. A Band 6 dementia nurse at entry on a 0.8 whole-time equivalent contract earns £31,967.20 a year, and a Band 7 dementia nurse at the top on a 0.6 contract earns £33,909 a year. Unsocial-hours percentages and High Cost Area Supplement apply to the pro rata basic in the same way as to a full-time basic, and pension contributions are calculated on the actual pensionable pay, not the whole-time equivalent figure. Community dementia posts split well into part-time caseloads, while ward-based posts need the rota share agreed in advance.

How does dementia nurse pay differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

Scotland has a 3.75% award from 1 April 2026 and a 36-hour week, which changes the hourly maths and the overtime threshold, since overtime in Scotland starts above 36 hours rather than 37.5. Scotland Band 5 pays £34,494 to £42,977, which is £18.36 to £22.87 an hour on the 36-hour week. Wales has a 3.3% award implemented 1 April 2026, and Wales Band 5 pays £32,557 at entry, £35,114 at the intermediate step and £39,631 at the top, which is £16.63, £17.94 and £20.25 an hour. Northern Ireland has a 3.3% recommendation for 2026/27 that has not been implemented, so no 2026/27 Northern Ireland figure is quoted here. Scotland and Wales Band 6 and Band 7 step figures are not in the verified data file used for this page, so they are not quoted.